ON POLITICS; Lieberman-Lamont Race Spurs Surge in New Democrats

By AVI SALZMAN

Published: July 23, 2006

CONNECTICUT'S Democratic Party appears to be seeing a sudden surge in registration, thanks to the tough challenge Senator Joseph I. Lieberman is facing from businessman Ned Lamont in the Aug. 8 primary. Town registrars and the secretary of state's office say some Republicans and many independent voters are trying to register as Democrats to cast ballots in the race. It is seen as a referendum on United States involvement in Iraq, which Mr. Lieberman supports and Mr. Lamont opposes.

In Hamden, for example, Margaret Rae, the Democratic registrar, said the office had been handling about 10 applications to change party affiliations a day. She said many people had told her they wanted to vote for Mr. Lamont.

Judith Beaudreau, the Democratic registrar in Vernon, said she had also seen an increase in the number of Republicans and unaffiliated voters trying to register as Democrats in the last month. At least three or four people a day are stopping by her office to change affiliations, she said, and they often mention the Senate race.

Susan Bysiewicz, the secretary of state, said her office had been fielding more calls than normal from people seeking to switch to the Democratic party in time to vote in the primary. She also said several voters, including some Republicans, had told her they wanted to switch parties so they could cast votes for Mr. Lamont. Ms. Rae said she had also recently noticed an increase in people applying for absentee ballots.

Turnout has already become a hot topic in this year's primary races. Mr. Lieberman has said he is concerned that not enough people will participate in the Democratic primary in August and has begun collecting signatures to run under a new party in the general election should he lose to Mr. Lamont.

To Ms. Bysiewicz, the deep interest in electoral politics is exciting. She held a news conference earlier this month urging unaffiliated voters, who outnumber both Democrats and Republicans in the state, to choose a party before the Aug. 8 primary so they can vote. They can always switch back, even immediately after voting.

As of October 2005, the most recent count, Connecticut had 929,005 unaffiliated voters, 699,502 Democrats and 453,715 Republicans, according to the secretary of state.

Two Democratic mayors, Dannel P. Malloy of Stamford and John DeStefano Jr. of New Haven, are vying for their party's nomination for governor. About a dozen races for the State House of Representatives and State Senate have primaries.

Republicans trying to switch parties are out of luck: By law, their opportunity ended 90 days before the primary. But unaffiliated voters can become Democrats up until the day before the primary by dropping off paperwork at their local registrar's office. Mail-in applications to switch parties must be received by local registrars by Aug. 3.

Photo: TO VOTE -- Margaret Rae, Hamden's Democratic registrar, with a voter. (Photo by Carl David LaBianca for The New York Times)